I am pleased that Google has been taken down a peg. They have been screwing around with me via the ads they flood me with all around my text. They have been clear they must have access to me through ads. They flooded me with sexual ads for women for months. I am 81 years old and married. The best I could do was to get them to stop using their crazy equations to send me ads. Now that they don't use my content in my emails, their ads are less offensive, but they are in every nook and cranny of my screen.

I would like some help, if you are willing to extend it to a stranger. I would like to switch to another provider that is less arrogant. I'd like a service that provides some useful content and does so with little or no charge. Do you have a suggestion?

I own 100 shares of Apple purchased 7 years ago. I have a good profit. But I think Apple is going to do very well the remainder of this year as the financial reports for the third and fourth quarter are made public. I agree with those who believe that the split will help push the stock price up too. However, how do you separate this impact from the recently reported financial results? I will carefully watch the price of the stock when the split occurs to see if there is a split induced stock price increase. If there is, I will gradually increase my position in Apple. I am sure I am not alone in this strategy.

Adding on to apple-investor's observations, the second quarter of Apple's stock is seen as the low quarter by stock analysts. This is so because there are usually no major introductions of new products or even major alterations of existing products. To me this is the major context of this last quarter's results. While the author dampens down the numbers Apple reports, I amplify them. Remember, the next quarter is the one that leads to usually higher numbers because Cook has promised new introduction of products and major alterations of existing products, like the iPhone. As an individual investor, I will buy more Apple after the stock splits to add to the Apple shares I bought 6 years ago.

Apple (AAPL) amends Tim Cook's stock compensation package to tie it to the performance of Apple shares. Previously, Cook was guaranteed (provided he remained CEO) 500K restricted stock units in Aug. 2016, and another 500K in Aug. 2021. Now, only 100K units vest in those periods, and an 80K-unit annual award is given until 2021 provided the performance of Apple shares beats at least 2/3 of S&P 500 companies in a given year. The award gets cut by 25% if performance is in the middle third, and by 50% if in the bottom third. Apple says it wants to tie a portion of exec. compensation to performance, and that Cook "is leading this initiative by example." (8-K) [View news story]

I would hate to EVER try to satisfy this audience. Read the contradictions among these comments!

Apple should not have been treated like they were criminals, when the Senate committee should be collecting information to guide future making of laws, not putting companies like Apple on trial.To me these things should be done. Create laws that prohibit and deter the setting up of dummy organizational units abroad to escape the payment of US taxes.That our tax rates should be lowered so they are not so high.That nations that support this evasive tax behavior should be publicized so that their country's citizens can see that their government is not getting all the taxes they should at a time when these countries are experiencing extreme financial stress. Here I talk about Ireland charging 2% in taxes for one of Apple's Irish subsidiaries.The law changes must be done because at this time all American companies are using these dodges (and they are not illegal!), so that all companies are limited at the same time.

As a psychologist, reading about these HIGH IQs has made my day--what outrageous humor!It is difficult for me to make comments and to have opinions because the Apple management does so little sharing of information, especially compared to the management of other stocks. So in a vacuum of information, most price estimates of AAPL are based mostly on fantasy. But this doesn't stop folks from trying, because the absence of information makes involved people very anxious. Talking and guessing helps to dissipate some anxiety, but not much. So that is why there is these long lists of comments occur on and on on SA.

Reading the growing critical commentary and rumors about Apple leads me to intuit that there are very large, well-heeled traders who have a vested interest in seeing Apples stock lose value. This is for trading gain and is surreptitious. And some of the folks here are very much smaller traders who are in this same position, although they are not connected to the high rollers.

Dear Apple Board, This Is How You Defend The Share Price [View article]

Insider Monkey's Jake Mann takes a look at how Apple (AAPL-1.1%) invests its $120B in liquid assets. "Corporate securities" (either debt or equities) made up $46.3B of the total at the end of FY12, treasuries made up $20.1B, and U.S. agency securities $19.5B. Another $11.9B was invested in mortgage and asset-backed securities, $5.6B in muni bonds, and $5.5B in foreign government debt. Apple's treasury holdings rose 87.9% Y/Y, easily surpassing the 49% increase seen in its asset base (exc. cash). Corporate securities rose 31.5%. [View news story]

Apple's (AAPL) FQ1 sales could get a bump from Wal-Mart (WMT), which has begun selling the 16GB iPhone 5 at a subsidized $127 at thousands of U.S. stores. The retail giant is also selling the 16GB 3rd-gen iPad for $399 (a $30 iTunes card is thrown in), and the 16GB iPhone 4S for $47. The size of the price cuts, good for the next 4 weeks, are eye-opening in light of Apple's history of limiting retailer discounts. They come as multiple analysts (I, II, III) strike a cautious tone on iPhone sales thanks to supply chain data. [View news story]

I have been having an increasing sense that the shorts have had a field day with Apple on this site for a few months. I sit here and wait for February to see the real figures on sales and profits. The confusion in the comments here tell me how much less people here know about Apple than they would ever face and admit.I do hope the shorts get hurt because their hidden agendas have led to a lot of misinformation.